11/09/13 - 11/15/13: Buenos Aires, Argentina
The best way to know a city is to walk its streets. The sights, the smells, the sounds – all creating a rhythm that pounds against you like a beating heart. Its pace can be dangerous, timid, exciting, or even downright painful. Buenos Aires’ heart beats strong and passionate; you feel intensity with every step, your blood buzzing with excitement. Then again, maybe that’s just the 5th cup of coffee vibrating through your veins.
11/04/13 - 11/08/13: Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina
After five full days of hiking the W we decided it was time for…wait for it…more hiking. (There’s not much else to do in Patagonia). And, in the wake of our luxurious trek that included catered meals and refugios with warm beds, we figured why put a stop to our decadence in the mountains? So, when we caught our bus to El Chaltén to visit Los Glaciares National Park, we weren’t destined for some cheap hostel, we were bound for the best Bed & Breakfast in the entire world – El Pilar.
10/28/13 - 11/2/13: Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
We arrived in Puerto Natales, Chile just in time to check into our hostel and hasten over to Erratic Rock. This company owns a hostel, a restaurant, rents outdoor gear, and lures you in with an ingenious marketing scheme: they offer a free seminar about the most popular activity in Patagonia – The W Trek.
10/01/13 - 10/05/13 ; 10/11/13 - 10/15/13 ; 10/21/13 - 10/25/13: Cusco, Peru
While in Peru, we spent many scattered days in Cusco: just prior to our Salkantay trek, before we left for Sacred Valley, and our final days leading up to departure. It's one of the most fascinating cities I've ever visited; culture and commerce immersed together in a landscape steeped in history.
10/16/13 - 10/20/17: Urubamba, Peru
Recovery from the Salkantay trek was slow. Progress was stunted by an unfortunate incident where, on a rare excursion outside just two days after returning to Cusco, I tripped on the sidewalk and fell full force onto my knees. Yes, my aching, creaking knees hammered on stone like two bent nails. The pain was excruciating and I found myself on the ground screaming “Why, God? Why??!!” OK, that last part didn’t happen, but it could’ve happened if I didn’t have self respect.
10/10/13: Machu Picchu, Peru
I was broken when we reached Aguas Calientes. My knees revolted as I limped my way up the long stretch of road that led to our hostel, Kernos. I’m not exaggerating when I say I was taking a step every second; that’s how slow I was moving. That may sound fast in theory, but try it out. Stand up, look at a clock, and take a step for every second that ticks by and see if you don’t feel like a zombie would beat you in a foot race.
10/06/13 - 10/09/13: Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu, Peru
“I feel really awful,” Katie confessed to me just before we started hiking. It was our second day on the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu and Katie was suffering from Montezuma’s Revenge, or should I say Pachacutec’s Revenge? (We were in Peru, after all.) That was the bad news. The even worse news was that we were at 12,795 feet and about to climb to over 15,000 feet. What was it they tell you when counteracting altitude sickness? Oh yeah, stay hydrated. Uh-oh…
09/11/13 - 09/12/13; 09/17/13 - 09/18/13: Quito, Ecuador
We were nervous about going to Quito. It was our first destination on our RTW trip and we’d read horror story after horror story about how we were going to get conned or robbed. One traveler even wrote: “In Quito it is PROBABLE that you WILL be robbed within your first three days.” (Capitalizations supplied by the author). Add in a few tales of false taxis that deliver you to armed muggers, and the warning bells start going off in your head.
9/23/13 - 9/27/13: Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
When you’re suffering from a cold and you wake up at 2:30 in the morning to catch a 3:00am van ride for two hours, only to spend another two hours waiting at an airport before spending several hours flying, landing, and flying again, then add another hour moving like cattle onto a bus so that you can ride a dinghy across rough seas and end up on a small cruise ship that’s slowly rocking back and forth on an incessant ocean… Well, you don’t feel great. That was how our Galapagos journey began.
09/19/13 - 09/23/13: The Secret Garden: Cotopaxi, Ecuador
You may not know it, but the highest mountain in the world is in Ecuador. Well, it depends on how you look at it…The Earth isn’t a perfect sphere. It’s slightly oblong, widening ever so slightly along the equator, meaning the equatorial line sits closest to the sun. Mount Chimborazo is Ecuador’s highest mountain, but Cotopaxi is a close second.